July 12, 2016

Christmas tree IPM update 7.11.16

Ah, education season – again?! Juggling conferences is so much fun – as long as I remember which one I am talking about.

And relative to the Hudson Valley Twilight, we were discussing beetles and their raster patterns.  Sound interesting?  Well, looking at the back end of a grub can tell you who is feeding on your tree roots.  Brian found one on the farm and learned that grubs bite – how else did he think they were chewing up those roots!

An interesting question came in from a new grower, so I come to you, the experts.  Do you shear differently in a drought year?  The thought was not to remove so much of the branches if it would stress the trees.  I can come up with a physiological reason that removing more means less tissue to have to find water for.  But what is the REAL answer?  Let me know.

I get questions occasionally about changing from one DEC pesticide category to another when what growers are producing changes.  I found this website on a random ramble around the DEC webpages (isn’t that what you think I do when I am sitting in my office?) – Adding or dropping a category

Brian and I will be heading west to the CTFANY summer meeting on Thursday – Saturday.  We’ll have a table in the vendor area so bring us your questions (in sealed bags to protect the farm – but not so hot they turn to mush)

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